UTFO (an abbreviation for Untouchable Force Organization) was an American

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

group from

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The group consisted of

Kangol Kid Shaun Shiller Fequiere (August 10, 1966 – December 18, 2021), known by his stage name Kangol Kid, was an American hip hop producer, songwriter, break dancer, and emcee. Kangol is best known as a member of the old school hip hop group UTFO. ...

(born Shaun Shiller Fequiere; August 10, 1966 – December 18, 2021), Educated Rapper (EMD) (born Jeffrey Campbell; July 4, 1963 – June 3, 2017), Doctor Ice (born Fred Reeves on March 2, 1966), and Mix Master Ice (born Maurice Bailey on April 22, 1965). The group's best-known single is " Roxanne, Roxanne", a widely acclaimed hip hop classic, which created a sensation on the hip hop scene soon after it was released and inspired a record-high of 25

answer records An answer song, response song or answer record is a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s to the 1950s. Answer son ...

in a single year (

Roxanne Wars The Roxanne Wars were a series of hip-hop rivalries during the mid-1980s, yielding rap music's first diss record and perhaps the most answer records in history. It is one of hip-hop's earliest feuds and perhaps the first " rap beef". The disput ...

), with estimates ultimately spawning over 100. The most notable remake was done by

Marley Marl Marlon Lu'Ree Williams (born September 30, 1962), better known by his stage name Marley Marl, is an American DJ, record producer, rapper and record label founder, primarily operating in hip hop music. Marlon grew up in Queensbridge Houses, Queen ...

's protégée

Roxanne Shanté Lolita Shante Gooden (born November 9, 1969), better known by her stage name Roxanne Shante, is an American rapper. She first gained attention in 1984 through the Roxanne Wars, and was part of the Juice Crew. The 2017 film ''Roxanne Roxanne'' ...

, which led to hip hop's first rap beef. "Roxanne, Roxanne" was originally the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of the lesser-known single "Hangin' Out". Due to personal issues, Educated Rapper was absent for its second effort, ''

Skeezer Pleezer ''Skeezer Pleezer'' is the second album by the American musical group UTFO, released in 1986 on Select Records. Due to personal issues, Educated Rapper was absent from this album, except the track, "Pick Up the Pace." The most notable song was "S ...

'' (1986), which produced one notable track with the song "Split Personality". EMD was, however, on one album track, "Pick Up the Pace", also featured in the movie '' Krush Groove''. In 2008, "Roxanne, Roxanne" was ranked #84 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.

History

The group formed in the early 1980s and were originally known as UFO. However, the name was taken by an English rock band so they were forced to change it to UTFO. Kangol Kid and Doctor Ice were originally known as The Keystone Dancers and were a dance duet, before going on to be back-up dancers for

Whodini Whodini is an American hip hop group that was formed in 1982. The Brooklyn, New York–based trio consisted of vocalist and main lyricist Jalil Hutchins; co-vocalist John Fletcher, a.k.a. Ecstasy (who wore a Zorro-style hat as his trademark; Jun ...

. Eventually, they went on to form UTFO in their hometown of

, New York. In 1984, the group signed with Fred Munao's

Select Records Select Records was an American record label. Among its most popular acts were the Real Roxanne, Chubb Rock, AMG, The Jerky Boys, Kid 'n Play, UTFO, Whistle, and Gary Private. From 1990 to 1995, it had a distribution deal with Elektra Reco ...

, and, in the same year, it released its hit single, "Roxanne Roxanne". The group's debut album was produced by R&B group

Full Force Full Force is an American music group of hip hop and R&B singers, songwriters and producers from Brooklyn, New York. Members *B-Fine (Brian George) – drums and drum programming, backing vocals *Shy Shy (Hugh Junior Clark) – bass guita ...

. Full Force brought in New York's sound and sampling wizard, Gary Pozner, to help create the sounds and the beats. This was one of the first instances of the new sampling machine, the

E-mu Emulator The Emulator is a series of digital sampling synthesizers using floppy-disk storage that was manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Although it was not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was innovative in its integratio ...

, used on a commercially released record. The members of UTFO were the first

breakdancer Breakdancing or breaking, also called b-boying (when performed by men) or b-girling (women), is a style of street dance originated by African Americans and Puerto Ricans in The Bronx borough of New York City. Breakdancing consists mainly of ...

s to appear on ''

The Phil Donahue Show ''The Phil Donahue Show'' is an American talk show that was hosted by Phil Donahue. The show ran for twenty-nine seasons from November 6, 1967, to September 13, 1996, in which it broadcast 6,715 episodes. Before it was placed in syndication ...

''. On June 3, 2017, Educated Rapper died following a battle with cancer. On December 18, 2021, Kangol Kid died of colon cancer, at age 55.

Discography

Studio albums

As lead artist

Compilation albums

* ''The Best of U.T.F.O.'' (Select, 1996) * ''

''/''

Lethal Lethality (also called deadliness or perniciousness) is how capable something is of causing death. Most often it is used when referring to diseases, chemical weapons, biological weapons, or their toxic chemical components. The use of this term ...

'' (BCM, 2000)

References

External links

Mix Master Ice's official Web Site

Doctor Ice official Web Site

Discography
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{Authority control 1984 establishments in New York City 1992 disestablishments in New York (state) African-American musical groups American hip-hop groups Hip-hop groups from New York City Musical groups established in 1984 Musical groups disestablished in 1992 Musical groups from Brooklyn Musical quartets from New York (state) Jive Records artists Select Records artists